Geeky Gastronome

Are carrot leaves edible?

vani — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 08:39:42 +0000

I have been getting my fruits and vegetables from Spud for a few months now, after they bought over Seattle’s beloved Pioneer Organics. I was a lot happier with Pioneer and was about to discontinue Spud, until I changed my mind last week and decided to stay on.. anyway the detailed analysis of CSAs is the subject of another post.
To cut a long story short, Spud sent me some carrots with really long carrot top leaves and I ended up researching on whether to toss or use the leaves. Turns out carrot leaves are edible – as long as they are cooked and eaten when they are very fresh as these tend to be quite fragile. We used them in a green veggie sautee along with some chard greens and they blended right in, and added some variety to the dish! I am sure they were nutritious too!

Documenting Detox

vani — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 10:07:17 +0000

Okay – maybe starting two blogs considering how infrequently I was writing was not such a great idea after all. There was a lot going on with a real action packed summer which is finally winding down and I can cozy up with my laptop once again.
Speaking of an action packed summer – I finally managed to start my 3 week detox diet around the beginning of August.. it was a terrific experience. Gievn my off an on experimenting with vegan-ism, I didnt think giving up all dairy, meat, fish and eggs (in addition to alcohol and caffeine) would be so hard.. but when my doctor included wheat and soy on the list, I was worried as I realized how inconvenient it was going to get. She also included tomatoes, potatoes, green peppers and eggplants on the do-not-eat list.
It wasnt that bad after all. I managed to survive on oatmeal with nuts and fruit for breakfast, lentils and brown rice for lunch, and green veggies, brown rice and lentils for dinner. Okay – I am making that sound easier than it was.. it did get a little frustrating on some days, but joining an early morning yoga class helped keep me balanced and upbeat through the duration of the 3 week diet. I did have a couple of slipups when I ate tofu the first week and also completely eliminated white rice instead of just cutting back on it. It was worth the goose bumps and almost teary eyed pleasure I got when I finally introduced some white rice after 3 weeks. I also thought giving up yogurt is the hardest, but it was just breaking the habit that was the difficult part, especially after a spicy meal. I didnt have any food cravings thankfully.
The other part of the detox was this dry skin brushing of the lymph nodes and hydrotherapy like finishing showers with cold water.. I wasnt very regular with the hydrotherapy, but managed to keep them lymph nodes squeaky clean and oiled.. figuratively of course..
This type of detox diet is not for weight loss, so when I lost 4 lb the first week, my doctor asked me to up my food intake and add bananas to the detox shake She also asked me to add eggs -and I gobbled 2 eggs the next day only to feel queasy and stop them again for the duration of the 3 week diet.
The most important part of the detox was the re-introduction when you add each of the foods back into your diet one at a time every 3 days. Based on how your system reacts – lethargy, stress etc, you then know what you may be allergic to. Turns out I don’t do so well with soy and (gulp) gluten / wheat. That will make vegetarianism a bit harder but I am going to try and refrain from these foods.
I am back to eating regular foods again, but I am going to follow my doc’s 70-30 rule and try eating healthy avoiding most of these foods 70% of the time!

Calcium-based Vegetables

vani — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 17:56:53 +0000

Ever since I gave up dairy at my naturopathic doctor’s advice, I have felt much healthier and urged other friends to give up milk as well based on the fact that milk does not have any real health benefits for adults. Given that milk = calcium is so ingrained in our minds thanks to the dairy industry, the immediate question that comes to mind is – how does one get calcium, if not from milk?
Here are a list of vegetables highest in calcium in order of calcium content –
(Taken from a Bastyr health article about osteoporosis prevention)
turnip greens; an herb called lambs quarters; collard greens; rhubarb; spinach; broccoli; dandelion greens; mustard greens; kale.
Of these, I already had spinach, broccoli and mustard greens in my diet. More recently, I tried kale, collard greens. Watch this space for recipes. Too bad I just threw away a bunch of dandelion greens in the yard waste yesterday! I would love to hear of any experiences of folks who have tried dandelion greens – I don’t remember seeing this in the grocery store and I am not too sure about cooking the weeds from my yard for lunch. Unless of course Survivor wants to feature me on the Survivor-Bellevue season.